FATP Special: WWE Over the Limit 2012 Predictions

What’s up guys? WWE brings us it’s third PPV in 7 weeks tomorrow with their Over the Limit 2012 presentation. If you’re not ordering/watching the event, stay tuned to PWMania.com for live coverage of Over the Limit.(P.S. for our UK/Ireland readers, www.paddypower.com is accepting bets for WWE PPV events now, so you can go online and see how much money your picks can get you!)

Now that the plugging’s out of the way, I’ll run down the card with my thoughts on the matches and my picks for who’ll win.

Pre-Show YouTube Match: Kane vs. Zack Ryder

I honestly don’t care about this match. They should have done this months ago. Remember? When Kane decimated Ryder by chokeslamming him off the stage, in the parking lot and threw him off the stage in a wheelchair? That’s when you should have done the match WWE, not put it on a meaningless throwaway YouTube pre-show presentation.

Ryder is one of the most poorly booked superstars in WWE. He’s over with the crowd as a babyface and he’s effective in terms of his in-ring work. Kane is one of the best big men ever in the history of this business. He’s winding his career down now, but he deserves to be on the main show, along with Ryder.

What stopped WWE adding this to the actual PPV card? They’ve only got five advertised matches as it is. What’s that I hear you say? Aw, damn, how could I forget? They’ll put Brodus Clay and Ryback squash matches on to break up the card! Woo Woo Woo, You Know It.

For the first time in a long while, the WWE Tag Team Championships will be on the line in an advertised PPV match. I cannot remember the last time that happened. Is it a sign that WWE is going to give their tag division more of a focus? I sure hope so! As far as the two teams involved go, it saddens me that these four wrestlers have been thrown together into two makeshift tag-teams. With that being said, they’ll put on a great match. The high-flying style of Kofi & Truth fits well with the more mat-based wrestling styles of Ziggler & Swagger. I see Ziggler & Swagger just failing to get the victory here.

This match has a lot of combustible elements to it. There are the fiery, unpredictable natures of Sheamus and Randy Orton, as well as the sneaky, underhanded antics of Alberto del Rio and Chris Jericho. For me, Chris Jericho doesn’t need to win the title. He’s over enough without it. He’ll be touring with Fozzy in Europe this June anyway, so I can’t see WWE giving him the rub before he goes off to do that. Alberto Del Rio is the dark horse for me. He is barely been mentioned as a possible winner here and I think it could work in his favour. He has been moved over to SmackDown recently, where I think he’s a better fit, but I don’t think WWE will put the belt on him yet. Of all of the men in this match, Sheamus needs to win this more than anyone. He’s not really got any momentum at the moment, even after beating Daniel Bryan at the last two PPVs. For Sheamus to be seen as the top dog on SmackDown, he needs the victory here. The last one to talk about is Randy Orton. He was put over on SmackDown last year, shortly after Edge retired. Orton was put there to be the focal point of SmackDown and put asses in seats. He did that tremendously well. It’s hard to narrow it down, but for me, it comes down to Sheamus or Orton.

My pick: Sheamus

WWE Championship Match: CM Punk (c) vs. Daniel Bryan

In my opinion, this should be match of the night and the main-event, but it won’t be because neither man’s name is John. These men are the hottest commodities in wrestling today. CM Punk has had a meteoric rise to the top of the WWE in the last year. He’s undoubtedly the second face in the company, surpassing Orton, and he’s been rewarded with a lengthy title reign.

Having said that, Punk’s been off the boil a little bit in terms of mic work. He looks tired, but he still out-performs most other men on the roster. On the other hand, Daniel Bryan is on the roll of his life right now. I thought WWE made a huge mistake having Bryan lose at WrestleMania in under 20 seconds, but it turns out that it was the best decision they ever made.

Bryan is ridiculously over as a result of their decision, particularly in light of his stunning performance at Extreme Rules last month. WWE has a tough decision to make with the outcome of this match. Do they capitalize on the hottest property in wrestling by having him win the title, or do they keep faith with the man they have put so much stock into over the last 12 months?

All I know is that I’m glad I’m not booking this match!

My pick: Daniel Bryan

Divas Championship Match: Layla (c) vs. Beth Phoenix

This match pits two completely different styles against each other. Beth Phoenix has all the power and wrestling ability in the world and she’s one of the best female wrestlers around. Layla on the other hand has only just returned to TV after a year out with a serious knee injury and she’s yet to be tested. I honestly cannot see WWE taking the title off Layla anytime soon. There are only three money matches in WWE as far as the Divas are concerned and they involve Beth Phoenix, Natalya and Kharma. I think WWE will keep Layla’s momentum going and she will retain her title.

My Pick: Layla

John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis

For me, this match should only end one way: with a definitive loss for John Cena. Hear me out. John has a lot of niggling injuries that he has been dealing with on the road and he has also got huge personal issues that he needs to deal with. Losing here would not hurt Cena in the long run. He is too established for that. Write him off TV for a while. He needs a bit of time to himself so he can deal with everything and come back refreshed and better than ever.

A victory over Cena would then cement John Laurinaitis as one of the top heels in the company. Granted, his promos aren’t money, but he’s so easy to hate. Winning against Cena would give him that extra bit of a push, or momentum, and solidifies his position as the on-screen heel authority figure. If, and it is a big if at this stage, Laurinaitis wins, it won’t be clean. I can see Big Show interfering in this match on “Big Johnny’s” behalf, costing Cena a victory.

My pick: John Laurinaitis

As usual, I’ll answer the same questions as I do before every PPV. That’s right, the ones you all know and love! Let’s get to it.

Which match would you have added to the card?

Where’s Cody Rhodes? Where’s Santino Marella? Two of the more entertaining wrestlers in WWE, yet they can’t make room for them on a five-match card? That’s a joke. Rumour going around is that a young heel is being punished by management for questioning the lack of main-event level heels in the company. Guess who that is?

I’ll leave it up to you, but I’ve already mentioned him here. He should be on the card, but instead, we’ll have painful backstage segments with John Laurinaitis’ Head Administrator Eve, and Bow-Tied Dave instead. Hooray! Excuse me while I go shoot myself.

Which match will steal the show?

Everyone’s expecting Punk/Bryan to be the star match of the night and it will be, so for that reason, it can’t steal the show. I’ll go with the match that’ll likely be the curtain jerker: Kofi/Truth vs ZigSwag. Four tremendous wrestlers who work well together and it’ll easily be a 3 or 4 star match, as long as they’re given enough time.

Will you be ordering this PPV?

No. Quite a few of the writers here at PWMania.com are based in the UK, so we get the luxury of a free ride this time around. For our readers in the UK, Over the Limit is available free to anyone with a Sky Sports subscription. It’ll start at 1am on Monday morning, exclusively on Sky Sports 1. Put it this way, I’ve already shelled out nearly £50.00 for 2 PPV’s in the last 7 weeks, I couldn’t afford to spend any more on an event where WWE has only had the decency and temerity to advertise and announce five matches. It just wouldn’t be worth it.

Well guys, that’ll wrap it up for my Over the Limit Predictions. Just to do a quick recap, my picks are: Kane, Kofi & R-Truth, Layla, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan and John Laurinaitis. Enjoy the PPV and I’ll see you back here on Monday.